3. Jack Carter

Get Carter

It’s probably fitting that the famously nihilistic British gangster classic Get Carter has an equally bleak ending. But after everything Michael Caine’s Jack Carter went through to get revenge for his brother’s death, blasting his way through Newcastle’s criminal underworld, his demise on the beach was a little, well, anti-climactic. Having your main character shot by a sniper moments after finally finishing his quest certainly wouldn’t fly as a Hollywood ending -- which is undoubtedly why it was changed for the inevitable (and awful) American remake. But for Caine’s iconic anti-hero, there was no other way out. His job was done.